If you’re one of those living in an area with actual seasons, fall may be starting to creep your way. I’m one of many who think fall is simply a delightful time of year: the heat of summer seeps away and a certain crispness fills the air. Things are less dramatic here, but I’m extremely grateful to wave goodbye to the late-August heat wave.

The point of this diatribe isn’t the weather but rather what to drink. While you’re probably spending this month drinking bourbon (you don’t hate freedom, do you?), fall is also a great time to become reacquainted with that delight of delights: scotch. To help that process out, here are two good links to start the process off.

First off, Robert Hess at The Spirit World has written an article all about scotch whisky. If you have the time, look around the other articles on The Spirit World especially Hess’ recent series of articles each covering a different whisk[e]y.

The other link is a video, a really enjoyable presentation by Charlotte Voisey called From Glen to Glen – Scotch in the Shaker. It’s a 10 minute video about how single malt scotches are made and it’s worth your time (although I still don’t get the “in the Shaker” bit of the title).

This video is hosted on the Small Screen Network which hosts a series called “The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess.” I am a total Robert Hess fanboy. His other videos are great, usually showing just Hess creating a cocktail. Be warned, however, the theme music that plays at the beginning and end is much louder than his voice, which results in me being blasted out of my chair at the end of every episode.

I was just enjoying some 10-year Laphroaig (hey, this tastes like bacon!) last night and thinking how appropriate this post was for the beginning of fall. Drinking it is like savoring the smell of autumn leaves, impending frost and distant smoke in your mouth. It’s such a nice sensory memory to have in California.

A Rob Roy! I haven’t had one of those for ages. I seem to recall it being 3:1 scotch/sweet vermouth plus a dash of bitters. The bitters being the argument, as you often see angostura bitters, but I think orange bitters is probably a better choice if you have them around. People often garnish with a maraschino cherry, although you should give lemon twist a try.